Water is a reference to the flow of the collective unconsciousness - that which creates realities in which we learn through experience and emotions. Water Deities refers to Gods and Goddesses who allegedly came from the sea of consciousness to create a biogenetic program that goes back to the beginning and is about to end. Most deities arrived from the sky (higher frequency) ---> moving into the sea to create, then left, usually saying they would return one day.
Amphitrite: In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite (not to be confused with Aphrodite) was a sea-goddess. Under the influence of the Olympian pantheon, she became merely the consort of Poseidon, and was further diminished by poets to a symbolic representation of the sea. In Roman mythology, the consort of Neptune, a comparatively minor figure, was Salacia.
Amphitrite was a daughter of Nereus and Doris - and thus a Nereid - according to Hesiod's Theogony, but of Oceanus and Tethys and thus an Oceanid according to Apollodorus, who actually lists her among both the Nereids and the Oceanids. Amphitrite's offspring included seals and dolphins. By her, Poseidon had a son, Triton, and a daughter, Rhode (if this Rhode was not actually fathered by Poseidon on Halia or was not the daughter of Asopus as others claim). Apollodorus (3.15.4) also mentions a daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite named Benthesikyme. Amphitrite is not fully personified in the Homeric epics: "out on the open sea, in Amphitrite's breakers" (Odyssey iii.101); she shares her Homeric epithet Halosydne ("sea-nourished") with Thetis: in some sense the sea-nymphs are doublets.
Cybele: The mitre on the head of the goddess Cybele is striking similarity to the 'fish head' of the God Dagon. The Great Goddess of Asia Minor is the oldest true Goddess known, predating the Goddesses of the Sumerian and Egyptians by at least 5,000 years. Cybele was worshipped in Rome and was also called the "Magna Mater", or the great queen mother goddess, which evolved into Catholic Mariology.
Originally a Phrygian goddess, Cybele (sometimes given the etymology "she of the hair" if her name is Greek, not Phrygian, but more widely considered of Luwian origin, from Kubaba) (Roman equivalent: Magna Mater or 'Great Mother') was a manifestation of the Earth Mother goddess who was worshipped in Anatolia from Neolithic times. Like Gaia or her Minoan equivalent Rhea, Cybele embodies the fertile earth, a goddess of caverns and mountains, walls and fortresses, nature, wild animals (especially lions and bees).
Her title 'Mistress of the Animals' (potnia theron) which is also associated with the Minoan Great Mother, alludes to her ancient Paleolithic roots. She is a life-death-rebirth deity. Her consort, whose cult was introduced, is her son Attis. Cybele was supposed to have been born on Mount Ida in Asia Minor; this is the source of her epithet Idaea.
Cybele's most ecstatic followers were males who ritually castrated themselves, after which they were given womens clothing and assumed female identities, who were referred to by contemporary commentator Kallimachos in the feminine Gallai , and who other contemporary commetators in ancient Greece and Rome referred to as Gallos or Galli. Her Priestesses led the people in orgiastic ceremonies with wild music, drumming and dancing and drink. She was associated with the mystery religion concerning her son, Attis, who was castrated and resurrected. The dactyls were part of her retinue. Other followers of Cybele, Phrygian kurbantes or Corybantes expressed her ecstatic and orgiastic cult in music especially drumming, clashing of shields and spears, dancing, singing, shouts, all at night. Atalanta and Hippomenes were turned into lions by Cybele after having sex in one of her temples.
Dagon or Atargis: Dagon was the god of the Philistines. The idol was represented in the combination of both man and fish. The name 'Dagon' is derived from 'dag' which means 'fish'. Although there was a deep affection from Dagon's worshippers to their deity, the symbol of a fish in human form was really meant to represent fertility and the vivifying powers of nature and reproduction. His name is a lot like 'Dogon'.
Dagon was a major northwest Semitic god, the god of grain and agriculture according to the few sources to speak of the matter, worshipped by the early Amorites, by the people of Ebla, by the people of Ugarit and a chief god (perhaps the chief god) of the Biblical Philistines. His name appears in Hebrew as (in modern transcription Dagon, Tiberian Hebrew), in Ugaritic as dgn (probably vocalized as Dagnu), and in Akkadian as Dagana, Daguna usually rendered in English translations as Dagan.
Enki or Ea-in: Sumer where kingship first descended from heaven. EA was thought to live in the 'Apsu' or submarine palace. Zoroaster can be seen above the amphibious gods.
Ancient painting of Nuwa and Fuxi unearthed in Xinjiang.
Fu Xi on a mural in Peterborough, East Anglia.
Fuxi or Fu Hsi: The Chinese have maintained that their civilization was founded by amphibious beings that had a man's head and a fish tail. The entity, named Fuxi, has been depicted as both male or female. The date traditionally ascribed to him is 3,322BC. In Chinese mythology, Fu Xi or Fu Hsi was the first of the mythical Three Sovereigns of ancient China. He is a culture hero reputed to be the inventor of writing, fishing, and trapping.
Fu Xi was born on the lower-middle reaches of the Yellow River in a place called Chengji (possibly modern Lantian, Shaanxi or Tianshui, Gansu). According to legend the land was swept by a great flood and only Fuxi and his sister Nuwa survived. They retired to Kunlun Mountain where they prayed for a sign from the Emperor of Heaven. The divine being approved their union and the siblings set about procreating the human race. Fu Xi then came to rule over his decedents although reports of his long reign vary between sources from 115 years (2852 - 2737 BCE) to 116 years (2952-2836 BCE). He lived for 197 years altogether and died at a place called Chen (modern Huaiyang, Henan) where his mausoleum can still be found.
During the time of his predecessor Nuwa (who according to some sources was also his wife and/or sister) society was matriarchal and primitive. Childbirth was seen to be miraculous not requiring the participation of the male and children only knew their mothers. As the reproductive process became better understood ancient Chinese society moved towards a patriarchal system and Fu Xi assumed primary importance.
Fu Hsi taught his subjects to cook, to fish with nets, and to hunt with weapons made of iron. He instituted marriage and offered the first open air sacrifices to heaven. A stone tablet, dated 160 CE shows Fu Hsi with Nuwa, who was both his wife and his sister.
Traditionally, Fu Hsi is considered the originator of the I Ching (also known as the Yi Jing or Zhou Yi), which work is attributed to his reading of the He Map (or the Yellow River Map). By this tradition, Fu Hsi had the arrangement of the trigrams of the I Ching revealed to him supernaturally. This arrangement precedes the compilation of the I Ching during the Zhou dynasty. Fu Hsi is said to have discovered the arrangement in markings on the back of a mythical dragon-horse (sometimes said to be a turtle) that emerged from the river Luo. This discovery is also said to have been the origin of calligraphy. Fu Hsi is also credited with the invention of the Guqin, together with Shennong and Huang Di.
Glaucus And Scylla: In Greek mythology, Glaucus ("shiny," "bright" or "bluish-green") was the name of several different figures, including one God. These figures are sometimes referred to as Glaukos or Glacus. Glaucus was a Greek sea-god.
According to Ovid, Glaucus began life as a mortal fisherman living in the Boeotian city of Anthedon. He discovered by accident a magical herb which could bring the fish he caught back to life, and decided to try eating it. The herb made him immortal, but also caused him to grow fins instead of arms and a fish's tail instead of legs, forcing him to dwell forever in the sea. Glaucus was initially upset by this side-effect, but Oceanus and Tethys received him well and he was quickly accepted among the deities of the sea, learning from them the art of prophecy.
Glaucus fell in love with the beautiful nymph Scylla, but she was appalled by his fish-like features and fled onto land when he tried to approach her. He asked the witch Circe for a potion to make Scylla fall in love with him, but Circe fell in love with him. She tried to win his heart with her most passionate and loving words, telling him to scorn Scylla and stay with her. But he replied that trees would grow on the ocean floor and seaweed would grow on the highest mountain before he would stop loving Scylla. In her anger, Circe poisoned the pool where Scylla bathed, transforming her into a terrible monster with twelve feet and six heads.
In Euripides' play Orestes, Glaucus was a son of Nereus and says that he assisted Menelaus on his homeward journey with good advice. He also helped the Argonauts. It was believed that he commonly came to the rescue of sailors in storms, having once been one himself.
Iris: In Greek mythology, Iris was the daughter of Thaumas and the ocean nymph Electra and one of the Oceanids (according to Hesiod), the personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. As the rainbow unites Earth and heaven, Iris is the messenger of the gods to men; in this capacity she is mentioned frequently in the Iliad, but never in the Odyssey, where Hermes takes her place.
Iris is represented as a youthful virgin, with wings of gold, who hurries with the swiftness of the wind from one end of the world to the other, into the depths of the sea and the underworld. She is especially the messenger of Hera, and is associated with Hermes, whose caduceus or staff she often holds.
By command of Zeus she carries in an ewer water from the Styx, with which she puts to sleep all who perjure themselves. Her attributes are the caduceus and a vase. She is also represented as supplying the clouds with the water needed to deluge the world. Iris is the personal messenger of Hera, queen of the gods and is Hera's go-between from Mount Olympus to the mortal world. The word iridescence is derived in part from the name of this goddess.
Many were the progeny of the sea; some of them we shall meet later in saga, for example the Graeae, Gorgons, and the Harpies.
Progeny of the sea often appear grotesque or fantastic. At this point, however, we single out only Iris [eye'ris], a beautiful descendant of Pontus and Gaia.
Iris, fleet-footed and winged, is the lovely goddess of the rainbow, the meaning of her name. She is also (like Hermes) a messenger of the gods.
